2006-2008 CATALOGUE

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COURSE CATALOGUE : PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES

**Effective for students matriculating in the fall of 2014 and later, the Public Policy Studies major is not being offered at this time. The Public Policy Studies MINOR is still available. Please consult the department website and online catalogue for updated information.**

The Public Policy program connects classroom learning to efforts through public policy to solve problems in the larger society, teaching analytic skills within an interdisciplinary, liberal arts context. Its goal is that graduates think and act critically in public affairs. Students explore the methodological, analytical, empirical, and ethical issues of policy formulation and implementation. Public Policy is designed to prepare students for careers in government, human services, social work, urban affairs, city planning, law, community organizing, business, communications, or academia. The Public Policy program offers an interdisciplinary minor. Students minoring in public policy must develop a concentration. Some examples of concentrations are:

Children and Families

Development Policy

Education

Environmental Policy

Foreign Policy

Health Care

Law

National Policy Process

Sexuality

Technology

Welfare

All courses applied toward a public policy minor must be completed with a grade of C- or higher.

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MINORinterdisciplinary, 6 courses
Two Public Policy core courses from two different divisions (Humanities, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences); one credit in skills courses; and three courses forming a concentration in an area chosen by the student (see examples below). No more than three courses may be taken from any one department or program (PPOL 499 excepted). All courses must be passed with a grade of C- or higher. No more than one course with a CR grade may be counted toward the minor.

Research Methods
ANTH 273 Research Methods
POL 263 Problems and Methods in the Study of Politics -OR- POL 371 Qualitative and Interpretive Research Methods
SOC 211 Research Methods

Argumentation
PHIL 120 Critical Thinking and Argumentative Analysis

CONCENTRATIONS
Many concentration courses have one or more prerequisites. Students are advised to check the prerequisites for any concentration course they plan to take for their minor. A student may petition for permission to count a course not listed here by submitting the following materials to the Public Policy Studies coordinator: a written rationale spelling out how that course, in combination with the other courses in the student's concentration, substantively addresses public policy issues in that concentration; the course syllabus; and any relevant course assignments. The coordinator will circulate the student's petition to the Public Policy Studies faculty who teach courses in that concentration for their decision.

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
PPOL 101 Democracy and Public Policy This course examines the American policy process by interrogating a number of domestic policy issues, affirmative action, poverty and welfare, HIV/AIDS, health care, labor/workplace, education, community development, and environmental concerns. Students examine all of these issues from various perspectives, including the modern conservative, modern liberal, and radical/democratic socialist, with particular attention to the role of the federal government in the policy process. Students have the opportunity to confront their own roles within the American policy process from a critical perspective. Students discuss, too, the role of the policy analyst in a democratic society and consider the interdisciplinary nature of public policy analysis. (Rimmerman, offered annually)

PPOL 219 Sexual Minority Movements and Public Policy This course explores the rise of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered movements from both contemporary and historical perspectives. The course addresses the sources of these movements, the barriers that they have faced, and how they have mobilized to overcome these barriers. Students devote considerable attention to the response of the Christian Right to the policy issues that are a focus of this course—HIV/AIDS, same-sex marriage, integration of the military, education in the schools, and workplace discrimination. Finally, students address how the media and popular culture represent the many issues growing out of this course (Rimmerman, offered alternate years)

PPOL 328 Environmental Policy This course assesses the capability of the American policy process to respond to energy and environmental concerns in both the short and long term. It examines the nature of the problem in light of recent research on global warming, pollution and acid rain, solid waste management, and deforestation. Students interrogate the values of a liberal capitalist society as they pertain to our environmental problematic from a number of perspectives: modern conservative, modern liberal, democratic socialist/radical, ecofeminist, and doomsday perspectives. Students evaluate which perspective or combination of perspectives offers the most coherent and rigorous response to the policy and moral and ethical issues growing out of this course. Students assess the development and accomplishments of the environmental movement over time. The goal is to evaluate how the American policy process works in light of one of the most significant public policy issues of our time. (Rimmerman, offered alternate years)

PPOL 364 Social Policy and Community Activism This is a course about social policy and community participation and activism; it is also a course about democracy, community, education, and difference. All students are required to be fully engaged in a semester-long community activism/service project. Students have an opportunity to reflect upon how their participation in the community influences their own lives, their perspectives on democracy, and their understanding of democratic citizenship. In addition, students examine contemporary social policy issues—HIV/AIDS, health care, affirmative action, welfare, and education policies from a number of ideological perspectives and from the perspective of how these issues are played out on our campus and in the Geneva, N.Y., communities. (Rimmerman, offered alternate years)